HISTORY

From a single act of kindness to 2 million nutritious meals

Open Arms began as a single act of kindness in 1986 -- our founder, Bill Rowe, cooking a meal in his apartment and delivering it to a friend with HIV/AIDS. Two decades later, we are celebrating the anniversary of our move into 2500 Bloomington Avenue, a 21,000-square-foot building with a state-of-the-art kitchen that allows us to cook and deliver meals to more than 700 people each week with the help of 1,400 volunteers.

In the intervening years, Open Arms and its stakeholders have realized that the need for healthy food is the same, whatever the medical diagnosis. So, we’ve opened our arms a little wider to include people living with HIV/AIDS, MS, ALS, cancer and more than 42 other diseases, as well as their caregivers and dependents. Open Arms also partners with several non-profit organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa to provide food and nutrition to people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

In 2010, Open Arms prepared and delivered more than 360,000 meals, hitting a meaningful milestone: Senator Amy Klobuchar delivered our 2 millionth meal. This year, we project our staff and volunteers will prepare and deliver 400,000 meals. In addition, we’ve planted a garden – which will allow us to grow 30 percent of the veggies our kitchen uses during summer and fall – and launched satellite delivery, which will allow us to reach out to folks further outside the Twin Cities metro.

None of this would have been possible without the generous support of our volunteers and donors, folks like you, who make it possible for us to continue to be innovative in our work and to do it with enthusiasm and responsibility.